Category: Strategies and Tips

To bid or not to bid–That is the question we must all answer whenever we shop on DealDash.com.

If you are a brand new shopper on DealDash.com you might not yet be familiar with the screen names of the most powerful bidders you might want to avoid.

No worries. There are still many things we can quickly check to accurately assess the competition.

Repeat Bidders

Go to the DealDash home page and just watch the various screen names popping up. Look for the same screen name in more than one auction. Chances are that if any shoppers are placing more than one bid in several auctions, they might be a power bidder or happen to have a huge supply of bids. Write repeat bidder screen names down and try to avoid getting into the same auctions.

Repeat Winners

Write down the screen names of the most serious competitors who placed more than one bid. Then go to the “Winners’ List” to see if those same screen names already won several other auctions that day. If you see the same screen name won more than one auction that day, chances are they are fairly competitive.

Shopping Experience

Whenever shoppers place a bid on DealDash, we will see their screen name come up, along with the date of when they first joined the shopping site. For example, I’ve been a member ever since Feb. 8, 2012. That means I’ve been shopping on DealDash for eight years. That’s a long time, so I’ve had a lot of shopping experience.  If the bidding gets down to only three shoppers, however, and you see that both of them joined only one or two months ago, they might not yet have much shopping experience. Shoppers who lack experience are usually the easiest ones to beat.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

One thing DealDash.com shoppers have in common is that we enjoy the thrill of winning auctions. That is not always easy to do, but if we try various strategies we will most likely win more auctions. Here are some ways we can find “easy-to-win” auctions:

Check the Winners’ List

Yesterday I checked the winners’ list and noticed that several bid packs closed early and the winners only used a few bids to win. It appeared to me that certain bid packs were selling early. By placing bids on similar bid packs, I thought I might be able to take advantage of that winning streak. To my pleasant surprise, I was right. The auction sold for 81 cents and I was able to win the 450 bid pack for a total of $1.81. By looking for “easy-to-win” patterns, we can win more auctions.

Count Number of Competitors

I often look for auctions that have the least amount of active competitors. I try to find auctions that have 30 or fewer qualified competitors and only two or three serious shoppers who look like serious bidders. I also look to see how many bids were used to win the auction the last five or ten times it went up for auction. That gives me a good idea how many bids it would take me to win the auction.

Use BidBuddy

To win an auction, it’s best to use the automated bidder, BidBuddy. By placing our bids into BidBuddy, they will not be used unless needed and we will prevent wasting bids.

Avoid Competing with Power Bidders

Become familiar with screen names of power bidders, and try to avoid getting into the same auctions. It is also a good idea to write down all the screen names of everyone who recently won a large bid pack. Shoppers who recently won a large bid pack are more likely to outbid us if we get into the same auction.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

Do you frequently check the list of auction winners on DealDash.com?  If you do, you might have noticed that various items that sell at the best bargain prices seem to run in trends.

One week, perhaps the jewelry, such as rings, will sell at bargain prices. Another week, sheets and/or comforters might sell at bargain prices, and then something else the week after that.

Do you want to get a great deal, too?  If so, continue to check the list of auction winners to become familiar with what products are selling at the best bargain prices at any given time frame. Then if we focus on bidding on those particular items, we could get a great bargain, too.

I have tried this, and it works. All we have to do is look for trends. I once noticed a trend where small ring sizes were selling at bargain prices, so I focused on that and won several auctions.

Looking at the list of featured auction winners this week, it appears the trend is bid packs selling at bargain prices. This is what I found:

• 550 bid pack sold for 4 cents. The auction winner used 1 bid, an estimated total cost of 24 cents.
• 325 bid pack sold for 4 cents. The auction winner used 1 bid, an estimated total of 24 cents.
• 550 bid pack sold for 10 cents. The auction winner used 3 bids, an estimated total of 70 cents.
• 300 Tennessee bid pack sold for 7 cents. The auction winner used 2 bids, an estimated total of 47 cents.
• 325 bid pack sold for 11 cents. The auction winner used 2 bids, an estimated total of 51 cents.
• 325 Maryland bid pack sold for 11 cents. The auction winner used 3 bids, an estimated total of 71 cents.
• 175 bid pack sold for 3 cents. The auction winner used 2 bids, an estimated total of 43 cents.
• 225 bid pack sold for 45 cents. The auction winner used 2 bids, an estimated total of 85 cents.
• 1,500 bid pack sold for 2.53 cents. The auction winner used 27 bids, an estimated total of $7.93.

Plus, about 20 more bid packs that sold at bargain prices–all within a 24-hour time frame. Looking at this trend, it was the right time to place bids on a bid pack.

This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post. Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company.

What do I mean by duplicate auctions?

One thing I love about DealDash is that each product usually goes up for auction more than once. In fact, we can often find the same product listed in six or seven auctions on the same day. This is a huge benefit to DealDash shoppers for several reasons.

Several Opportunities to Win an Auction

If we do not win the auction we want the first time we place bids on it, we have several more opportunities to bid on it again until we finally do. Eventually, most auctions will sell early sooner or later. If we are determined to get a particular product, and we consistently place bids on it every time it goes up for auction, we could be there at the right time to get a great bargain.

More Choices

Besides giving shoppers several opportunities to get a product, by listing the same product several times a day, DealDash also gives us more choices of which auction shows the most promise.

For example, if we were shopping for a high-quality knife with a lifetime guarantee, I counted 11 auctions that are available as of this writing. Let’s say we looked at the first auction and we noticed that one of the competitors is a well-known high-power bidder with a seemingly endless supply of bids. We might decide not to participate in that one, so we look at another auction. In the second auction, we might notice that a shopper who just won a bid pack of 1,600 bids is participating in that auction. Therefore, we might not want to compete in that auction, either. Then we might open a third auction and notice that the competition is extra low and the strongest competitors have already been eliminated. We may choose to bid in that auction because our opportunity to win the auction looks pretty good.

Conclusion

It’s always a good idea to take a look at all of the auctions available. Placing on the third or fifth auction might make a lot more sense.

Happy shopping everyone!

Blog posts are written by real DealDash customers. The opinions and advice here represent our customers’ views and not those of the company. This sponsored blog post was submitted by: Barbara L. Sellers. Barbara was compensated by DealDash for this blog post.